Connor Lemons
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Ohio State faces uphill battle in new, expanded Big Ten Tournament
Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
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Only one team has played on Wednesday and made it to Saturday — Ohio State, two years ago.
Two years ago, Ohio State made “history” when they became the first Big Ten team to play on Wednesday of the Big Ten Tournament and make it to Saturday. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes finished the regular season with a 13-18 record that year, so the extra wins did not result in a bid to any post-season tournament.
This season, the Buckeyes are actually playing for something, with an NCAA Tournament bid within reach. However, they’ll start on Wednesday once again, and will face off with the 15-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes. From there, they’d face Illinois and potentially Maryland if they win on Thursday. Ohio State beat Iowa in their only meeting this season, lost to Illinois in Champaign on February 2, and split the season series with Maryland, losing in College Park in December and beating the Terrapins in Columbus last month.
After Ohio State’s loss to Indiana this weekend, head coach Jake Diebler reiterated that the Buckeyes aren’t just playing to win an indeterminate number of games to earn an at-large ticket to the NCAA Tournament — there’s a championship to be won.
“I understand it’s really important and we need to get a win on Wednesday,” Diebler said Saturday night. “Our focus is to live in the moment, there’s a championship to be won in the Big Ten Tournament.”
Ohio State’s last Big Ten Tournament title was in 2013. Winning five games in five days would set a historic precedent in the Big Ten, but Diebler’s team isn’t heading to Indianapolis with a goal of winning one or two games and ducking out.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Buckeyes are +5000 to win the tourney and claim the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Related to that, you can potentially win a profit boost on your underdog picks each day during the conference tournament. Check out FanDuel Sportsbook’s Dog of the Day promotion:
What is it?
How to Play
Here’s a bit more on the 2025 Big Ten men’s basketball tournament:
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25906373/usa_today_25521968.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Michigan State at Maryland")
Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images
Michigan State went 17-3 in the Big Ten this season, winning the league by a full three games and overshooting its predicted spot in the Big Ten preseason media poll by four spots.
The Spartans were eighth in the league in scoring this season, ninth in shooting percentage, and dead last in three-point shooting. However, Michigan State was fifth in the nation in defensive efficiency, allowing 91.1 points per 100 possessions. They led the conference in opponent field goal percentage at 40.1%, opponent three-point shooting at 28%, and were third in opponent points per game, allowing just 67 per game.
They attacked the glass as well, averaging 12 offensive rebounds and 40 total rebounds per game — both of which were second in the Big Ten.
Michigan State’s style of play isn’t sexy, but they get after it on the defensive end, protect the glass, and give themselves extra opportunities to score. They’re the top overall seed in this tournament, and will advance to the semifinals if they can beat the winner of the Indiana-Oregon game.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25906376/usa_today_25318173.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Wisconsin at Northwestern")
David Banks-Imagn Images
The Wisconsin Badgers were picked to finish 12th in the conference in the pre-season. They lost three of their five starters from last season, including leading scorer AJ Storr and point guard Chucky Hepburn.
However, John Tonje entered the fold and put up a Big Ten Player of the Year caliber season, averaging 18.9 points and 5.1 rebounds and helping Wisconsin finish in a three-way tie for fourth-place.
This is the highest-scoring Wisconsin offense in several decades, averaging just a smidge over 80 points per game. They also have four players averaging 5+ rebounds per game with Tonje, John Blackwell, Steven Crowl, and Nolan Winter.
Wisconsin is the 5-seed in this tournament, and will face the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota on Thursday. After that, they would face the fourth-seeded UCLA Bruins in the quarterfinal.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25906377/usa_today_25502985.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Michigan at Nebraska")
Dylan Widger-Imagn Images
The Michigan Wolverines went from winning eight games one season ago to winning 22 so far this season, finishing in a tie for second-place in the Big Ten under new head coach Dusty May. Michigan is carried by a high-horsepower duo of 7-footers, Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin. Wolf transferred to Michigan last summer after two seasons at Yale, and Goldin followed May to Ann Arbor from FAU.
Michigan went 14-6 in league play this season, but lost their last three games of the season after briefly sitting in the driver’s seat for the Big Ten title. As the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan will face the winner of Purdue and whoever wins the USC-Rutgers game.
The Wolverines went a combined 4-1 against those three teams this year, with the lone loss being a 91-64 thumping at Purdue on Jan. 24.
May’s team turns the ball over at a borderline unbelievable clip, giving up the biscuit on 20.2% of their possessions — a figure that’s the worst in the Big Ten and the 30th-worst in the country.
The Wolverines have absolutely no momentum right now, losing their last three games by an average of 14.3 points. Pair that with the nagging turnover issues, and it’s not hard to see them losing their first game of this tournament.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25906378/usa_today_25511141.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Northwestern at Minnesota")
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
The Northwestern Wildcats were (justifiably) written off in February when they lost both Brooks Barnhizer and Jalen Leach for the season — two of their top-three scorers.
A four-point loss to Nebraska on February 16 dropped Northwestern to 4-11 in Big Ten play. If they decided to pack it in and sleepwalk through the final five games and call it a year, nobody would’ve blamed them. Instead, they went to Columbus four days later and dropped a bomb on Ohio State, winning by 21 points and kicking off a three-game winning streak.
Northwestern lost to UCLA and Maryland to end the season, but they did enough to snag the 13-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and will face Minnesota on Wednesday.
Nick Martinelli was the Big Ten’s leading scorer this year at 20.2 points per game, and has scored 25 or more points eight different times this season.
If the Wildcats beat Minnesota, they’d get Wisconsin and then UCLA. Northwestern is No. 47 in KenPom and No. 55 in the NET, so they’d probably need to make it to championship Sunday to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25906380/usa_today_22777741.jpg "NCAA Basketball: Big Ten Conference Tournament Second Round-Ohio State vs Iowa")
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Iowa is a good matchup for the Buckeyes, and they’ve already beaten them once this year, 82-65 on Jan. 27. They did that against an Iowa team that was at full health and still in the middle of the Big Ten pack two months ago — two things that aren’t true anymore.
Sophomore center Owen Freeman is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on one of his right fingers in early February. Since losing Freeman, Iowa has gone 3-7, giving up 80 or more points in eight of those 10 games.
After that, it gets a lot harder for Ohio State. Illinois is the best rebounding team in the Big Ten, and out-rebounded the Buckeyes 43-31 back on Feb. 2. Freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. had 14 points and 15 rebounds in that game, and it sounds like the 6-foot-9 freshman could return Thursday after missing Illinois’ last five games with a broken wrist.
If Ohio State was to get past Illinois, they would face Maryland, which starts two all-conference caliber big men in Derik Queen and Julian Reese. Despite losing to Ohio State in Columbus towards the end of the season, Maryland still poses a big matchup problem for the Buckeyes.
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Connor Lemons via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Matt Krohn-Imagn Images
Only one team has played on Wednesday and made it to Saturday — Ohio State, two years ago.
Two years ago, Ohio State made “history” when they became the first Big Ten team to play on Wednesday of the Big Ten Tournament and make it to Saturday. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes finished the regular season with a 13-18 record that year, so the extra wins did not result in a bid to any post-season tournament.
This season, the Buckeyes are actually playing for something, with an NCAA Tournament bid within reach. However, they’ll start on Wednesday once again, and will face off with the 15-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes. From there, they’d face Illinois and potentially Maryland if they win on Thursday. Ohio State beat Iowa in their only meeting this season, lost to Illinois in Champaign on February 2, and split the season series with Maryland, losing in College Park in December and beating the Terrapins in Columbus last month.
After Ohio State’s loss to Indiana this weekend, head coach Jake Diebler reiterated that the Buckeyes aren’t just playing to win an indeterminate number of games to earn an at-large ticket to the NCAA Tournament — there’s a championship to be won.
“I understand it’s really important and we need to get a win on Wednesday,” Diebler said Saturday night. “Our focus is to live in the moment, there’s a championship to be won in the Big Ten Tournament.”
Ohio State’s last Big Ten Tournament title was in 2013. Winning five games in five days would set a historic precedent in the Big Ten, but Diebler’s team isn’t heading to Indianapolis with a goal of winning one or two games and ducking out.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Buckeyes are +5000 to win the tourney and claim the Big Ten’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Related to that, you can potentially win a profit boost on your underdog picks each day during the conference tournament. Check out FanDuel Sportsbook’s Dog of the Day promotion:
What is it?
- A 30% profit boost token (PBT) to be used on any underdog every single day during Conference Champ Week.
How to Play
- Download or Log In to FanDuel Sportsbook with new or existing account
- Place your straight moneyline wager and apply PBT
- Minimum of +100 odds
- Users will have a PBT to use every day during the March 10 and March 16 timeframe
Here’s a bit more on the 2025 Big Ten men’s basketball tournament:
The Favorite
Michigan State went 17-3 in the Big Ten this season, winning the league by a full three games and overshooting its predicted spot in the Big Ten preseason media poll by four spots.
The Spartans were eighth in the league in scoring this season, ninth in shooting percentage, and dead last in three-point shooting. However, Michigan State was fifth in the nation in defensive efficiency, allowing 91.1 points per 100 possessions. They led the conference in opponent field goal percentage at 40.1%, opponent three-point shooting at 28%, and were third in opponent points per game, allowing just 67 per game.
They attacked the glass as well, averaging 12 offensive rebounds and 40 total rebounds per game — both of which were second in the Big Ten.
Michigan State’s style of play isn’t sexy, but they get after it on the defensive end, protect the glass, and give themselves extra opportunities to score. They’re the top overall seed in this tournament, and will advance to the semifinals if they can beat the winner of the Indiana-Oregon game.
The Dark Horse — The Thursday team that could win it
The Wisconsin Badgers were picked to finish 12th in the conference in the pre-season. They lost three of their five starters from last season, including leading scorer AJ Storr and point guard Chucky Hepburn.
However, John Tonje entered the fold and put up a Big Ten Player of the Year caliber season, averaging 18.9 points and 5.1 rebounds and helping Wisconsin finish in a three-way tie for fourth-place.
This is the highest-scoring Wisconsin offense in several decades, averaging just a smidge over 80 points per game. They also have four players averaging 5+ rebounds per game with Tonje, John Blackwell, Steven Crowl, and Nolan Winter.
Wisconsin is the 5-seed in this tournament, and will face the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota on Thursday. After that, they would face the fourth-seeded UCLA Bruins in the quarterfinal.
The Walking Dead —The top-four seed that could get bounced quick
The Michigan Wolverines went from winning eight games one season ago to winning 22 so far this season, finishing in a tie for second-place in the Big Ten under new head coach Dusty May. Michigan is carried by a high-horsepower duo of 7-footers, Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin. Wolf transferred to Michigan last summer after two seasons at Yale, and Goldin followed May to Ann Arbor from FAU.
Michigan went 14-6 in league play this season, but lost their last three games of the season after briefly sitting in the driver’s seat for the Big Ten title. As the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan will face the winner of Purdue and whoever wins the USC-Rutgers game.
The Wolverines went a combined 4-1 against those three teams this year, with the lone loss being a 91-64 thumping at Purdue on Jan. 24.
May’s team turns the ball over at a borderline unbelievable clip, giving up the biscuit on 20.2% of their possessions — a figure that’s the worst in the Big Ten and the 30th-worst in the country.
The Wolverines have absolutely no momentum right now, losing their last three games by an average of 14.3 points. Pair that with the nagging turnover issues, and it’s not hard to see them losing their first game of this tournament.
Frisky and fun — A Wednesday team that could make some noise
The Northwestern Wildcats were (justifiably) written off in February when they lost both Brooks Barnhizer and Jalen Leach for the season — two of their top-three scorers.
A four-point loss to Nebraska on February 16 dropped Northwestern to 4-11 in Big Ten play. If they decided to pack it in and sleepwalk through the final five games and call it a year, nobody would’ve blamed them. Instead, they went to Columbus four days later and dropped a bomb on Ohio State, winning by 21 points and kicking off a three-game winning streak.
Northwestern lost to UCLA and Maryland to end the season, but they did enough to snag the 13-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and will face Minnesota on Wednesday.
Nick Martinelli was the Big Ten’s leading scorer this year at 20.2 points per game, and has scored 25 or more points eight different times this season.
If the Wildcats beat Minnesota, they’d get Wisconsin and then UCLA. Northwestern is No. 47 in KenPom and No. 55 in the NET, so they’d probably need to make it to championship Sunday to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Ohio State’s path
Iowa is a good matchup for the Buckeyes, and they’ve already beaten them once this year, 82-65 on Jan. 27. They did that against an Iowa team that was at full health and still in the middle of the Big Ten pack two months ago — two things that aren’t true anymore.
Sophomore center Owen Freeman is out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on one of his right fingers in early February. Since losing Freeman, Iowa has gone 3-7, giving up 80 or more points in eight of those 10 games.
After that, it gets a lot harder for Ohio State. Illinois is the best rebounding team in the Big Ten, and out-rebounded the Buckeyes 43-31 back on Feb. 2. Freshman forward Morez Johnson Jr. had 14 points and 15 rebounds in that game, and it sounds like the 6-foot-9 freshman could return Thursday after missing Illinois’ last five games with a broken wrist.
If Ohio State was to get past Illinois, they would face Maryland, which starts two all-conference caliber big men in Derik Queen and Julian Reese. Despite losing to Ohio State in Columbus towards the end of the season, Maryland still poses a big matchup problem for the Buckeyes.
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